October 6, 2011

White Sox next coach: Paul Konerko

In case Ventura doesn’t succeed as manager, believe it or not, his replacement might already be lurking inside the White Sox clubhouse. Just like Ventura had no clue he was on Williams’ radar in the 1990’s, this player probably doesn’t realize it either.

“As I’d freely admit right now, Paul Konerko can be a major league manager just because I’ve had 10 years worth of conversations with Paul Konerko,” Williams said. “And as a result, I’ve come to the conclusion that this guy certainly has the necessary stuff. He’s a little busy right now, you know, becoming an MVP. But one day he too will hopefully be considered if he wants to do it along the same line. This might be out of left field or a surprise, but to people who are within the organization, not so much.”

“I have talked about that with Robin and because we’ve had so much growth within our system and we got so many young players as well as guys trying to rebound, we are probably going to stay within the organization,” White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said. “We’ve still got to have some conversations on it and whether or not Frank is spoken to about or not, that’ll be Robin’s choice at the time.

“But I’m thinking initially, because we have history with some of our young players that have now come through and have performed well, we’ll probably stick with that,” Williams continued. “But Frank will undoubtedly be welcomed to add any advice he has and he’ll be part of the family because he is who he is and he’s got a lot to offer.”